


as long as our forever lasts

by disarmed



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-01-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:07:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22223041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/disarmed/pseuds/disarmed
Summary: Damon stands just inside her gate, strolling ever closer in dark blue jeans and his leather jacket, looking exactly as he did eight years ago. Elena drops her flowers and the handful of dirt she's holding to stare at him more precisely.
Relationships: Elena Gilbert/Damon Salvatore, Elena Gilbert/Stefan Salvatore, Elena Gilbert/Tyler Lockwood
Comments: 5
Kudos: 40





	as long as our forever lasts

**Author's Note:**

> in an effort to save some of the older fandom works (rip lj), i'm cross-posting mine to here. 
> 
> author's notes as of 2010.09.28: this kind of got away from me. It was supposed to be around 5000 words of Elena wanting stay human, turning down both brothers in her quest to live out her life normally. It turned out to be 9000+ words of mostly Damon/Elena, with a cat that hates everybody and a persistent Damon Salvatore. Written mostly because as much as I love the hate/angst going on during Season 2, I want my happy ending. (I'm also waiting for Elena to wake up and realize Damon took an ARROW IN THE BACK for her. Could have been a stake. Bet she didn't think about that.)

  
++  
  
  
Time waits for no one.  
  
Elena had learnt that the hard way.  
  
She started worrying at twenty. Worrying, but not doing anything about it.  
  
Twenty two had them in an argument that left them in an uncomfortable limbo of silence for three days.  
  
Eight years on from seventeen and she's twenty five years old, with a maturity gracing her face that shows she is no longer a teenager. Eight years on and Stefan remains seventeen, though he tells people he's twenty four, laughs and says everyone is jealous when they look at him with curious eyes and say - half seriously- 'you don't look a day older since high school.' Elena knows it's come to an end, she can't hide the fact that although Stefan is really a century older than her, he's physically a seventeen year old. The looks are becoming accusing, the enquiries becoming more in depth. It isn't as hard as Elena thought it may be, because a lot of them branched out after high school, a lot of people don't care. But there are the fair amount who stayed, the fair amount who do care. The Council grows more and more suspicious with each year; dogs them like an unwanted cold breeze, invisible but always there, always bothering.  
  
Really, Elena has to face the reality of her bizarre life. It's time to make a choice. Stefan tells her this in more words, coated in delicacies and fanciful comparisons, but it doesn't hide the truth. Elena has to turn, and turn soon. The problem is, she isn't sure if she wants to. There are things about her life that she can't imagine giving up. Sunlight, is high on her list. Stefan tells her they can find a ring, bewitch it, spell it. Elena is skeptical, as she always has been. Leaving her family, her home, because that's what she'll have to do when she too no longer ages. What will she tell Jenna, will she be able to lie to her about this? How will Jeremy react? There are many things to consider. Does she _want_ to live forever? Does she want to deal with the fact that everyone she knows and loves will die before her, as she stays fresh with eternal youth?  
  
It's a decision she isn't quick to make.  
  
As ridiculous as it seems, she reads fictional books, about vampires. She ranges from Anne Rice to Stephenie Meyer and Marilyn Lee, Laurell K. Hamilton to Colleen Gleason and Charlaine Harris. She goes from lusty romances to graphic gore and horror, drama to adventure, epic novels to short stories. She tries to glean what choices the characters made and why, because maybe it may help her make her decision. She doesn't gather much. Most of the time it's vampire erotica and a girl who has a passion for being bitten. She searches the Internet for hours, scrolls through page after page of unhelpful advice. Mockery is common; because they don't know the truth. Nothing really helps her, and Elena has to admit that this is a decision only she can make, backed by her own desires.  
  
Again, that's her problem. Is this what she desires?  
  
++  
  
A few months on and she has to stop running. It breaks her heart to do so, but she tells Stefan she can't do it, she can't turn. Her love for her human life and the people in it, outweighs her love for him. She can't mistake the pain in his eyes, and he catches his breath and tells her he understands. She wraps her arms around him and cries into his chest, because for over eight years she's loved him, and she still does. She just can't live out forever with him.  
  
It's obvious then, that his time is up in Mystic Falls, and so he packs his things and leaves. They fabricate a not-lie, about how they've separated and Stefan's leaving town. A lot of people pry and ask questions, especially about where he's going, and Jenna eyes Elena skeptically when she asks why they split, because Elena stutters and can't meet her eyes. There have been times in the past when lying to Jenna was mandatory; now she can't seem to do it. She mumbles something about, "their differences," and she hates the way Jenna's eyebrows rise and her mouth sets into a straight line.  
  
But Stefan leaves and life in Mystic Falls goes back to it's normal pace.  
  
++  
  
Bonnie comes around more than often; now that Stefan is gone. She's engaged, Elena is none too shocked to find out, to her boyfriend of five years, Trey... something or other. He's a nice guy from New York, with a penchant for sports and drag cars and weirdly enough, has a spiritual side. Elena wonders if that was what attracted Bonnie to him when she left Mystic Falls six years ago, because when she first asked them how they met, Bonnie had smiled and said, "it was like he was calling for me." They're good together, though, and he makes her friend happy. Elena has a fair idea that he knows what Bonnie is, because once when they were around for dinner, Bonnie stole a forkful of chocolate ice cream from his bowl and he said through his laughter, "you little witch." Except the word 'witch' was a little seductive and a little loaded, and the way Bonnie half smiled made Elena curious.  
  
But it's nice having Bonnie back in her life, Elena can't help but notice, and strangely enough she finds herself hosting off-weekly little dinner parties. Jenna and Alaric are always there, along with Matt and his mom - who Elena can never not invite. Bonnie and Trey never miss a meal, and sometimes Jeremy pops around to pester her while she cooks, and steal swigs from the wine bottle when she's making pasta. Elena worries about her brother, but she knows asking him how he is will lead to a dead end, so she tells him off for stealing her ingredients and smacks him on the back of the hand with her wooden spoon.  
  
There's a lot of laughter in her home.  
  
++  
  
She never moved in to the Boarding house, although she did consider it, and Stefan did ask her to. She didn't like the idea of not having her own place, a fall back in case anything went wrong, in case she and Stefan really did have their differences. She didn't want to rely on him for everything. Just because she never moved in with him, doesn't mean she never spent nights in his bed.  
  
She moved out when she hit twenty one, left Jenna and Alaric to the house and Jeremy, and found herself a cosy little place not three streets down. She rented for two years until the owners went to sell, and with some help from Jenna and the bank, she was halfway to owning her own home. She only has a little bit more to go on the mortgage, and then it will be hers completely. She looks forward to the day, and she has no doubt she'll be celebrating it by herself with a bottle of red wine, possibly redecorating and refurbishing (hopefully.) She takes pride in the hanging baskets on her porch, where rich blues and royal purples create color and contrast to the white wash of her walls and railing.  
  
Elena was more surprised than any one else when she discovered her fondness of domestic duties. Gardening quickly became her favorite; much to every one's amusement. Even though Matt laughed at her, and said that nothing would grow on the old, dry dirt she had out front, he helped her spray the the ground and fertilize it; nurture it until rich green shoots of grass sprung up. He jokes about it every time he comes by. Elena is proud of her little home, right down to the smooth pebble path leading up to the porch, and the lavender she planted by the gate for luck. She even likes the drain pipe that unhinges every year in the winter, even though it drives her insane at night, banging against the wall. She can fix it as much as she likes, but it always comes loose. It's one of the charms of her home.  
  
Her neighbors are nice enough, on her left, over the top of the head high hedge is old Mr. and Mrs. Rilington, married for fifty five years, with three kids and about a dozen grandchildren. On her right, over the off white picket fence and the yellow roses that creep through onto her property from his, is Eric Durrey, the thirty year old doctor who works at the hospital (mostly night shifts) that she doesn't see much. But she's in a good street with nice people and it makes her happy.  
  
++  
  
She ends up being roped into adopting a kitten, much to her dismay, when she goes along with Jenna to the animal shelter. Alaric wants a dog, it seems. Jenna, while playing with a golden retriever puppy that has a nick in his ear, hears a mewling from a few cages down, and tells Elena to go and have a look. Reluctantly, (because Elena knows that if she looks at one of the animals too long, she'll end up taking it home) she stops in front of a cage a few feet down from where Jenna is standing. She knows she's doomed when she looks into the cage. An absolutely pathetic looking creature stares back at her with wide green eyes. She tentatively puts her finger to the little bars and tries to stroke its tiny head. The kitten, black as soot, bats at her finger with a small paw before mewling and nudging its head closer to her touch.  
  
"It likes you," Jenna says unhelpfully from beside her. It hisses at Jenna when she gets too close, and Elena gives the kitten a firm look and says, " _no_!" It even looks a little ashamed.  
  
Elena ends up carrying the bedraggled kitten out in her jumper, nestled into her chest while Jenna trots along happily beside her; golden retriever puppy at her side.  
  
She's happier than she's been in a while.  
  
++  
  
Five weeks later, the rain batters against the windows and Elena is curled up on her couch, thumbing through a magazine with the TV on in the background. Thunder rumbles out in the night, and from between in her hip and the couch, a little head pokes out.  
  
Elena glances down, "it's just thunder, Salem."  
  
So she named the cat Salem. Sue her. (For the record, it's better than Matt's suggestion of Nightstalker, Bonnie's suggestion of Fluffball, and Alaric's half-serious suggestion of Captain Fuzzy Paws.)  
  
Salem extends his head further from the blanket she has thrown about them, and looks from the window to the hall, where the front door is. Elena is half-concerned before turning back to her magazine. A few moments later Salem wriggles out from his gap between her and the couch and slinks to the end of the couch, ears alert. Elena lowers her magazine. Salem's posture is tense, his ears alert and his eyes wide. As strange as her young cat normally is, (like the time he tried to eat all her shoelaces) she knows something is bothering him.  
  
There's a knock on the door.  
  
Elena almost jumps out of her skin, and Salem slinks off the couch and darts around and into the hallway. Cautiously, Elena gets up and follows him. She knows logically it will be one of her friends, maybe one of the neighbors, but the way Salem has his ears laid back against his head and the way he hisses at the front door, makes her wary. The rain and wind lays itself down against the house, and Elena wonders who and why anyone would be at her doorstep.  
  
She opens the door back onto herself, keeping her body shielded behind it.  
  
"Caroline?"  
  
Elena's jaw drops open, because she hasn't seen her blonde friend in four years, after Caroline left in fear of being discovered as a vampire. She's soaked through, hair plastered to her face and her forest green jacket clinging to her limbs.  
  
"You know, as fast I can run, I still get wet. How unfair is _that_?"  
  
It's that sentence, the way Caroline rolls her eyes and the petulance and disgust that laces her tone, that makes Elena's decision for her. "Come in!" She reaches out and takes Caroline's arm, pulling her into the house.  
  
Caroline does not try and kill her.  
  
They hug fiercely, and then Caroline squeezes a little too tight and Elena coughs. "Oh, I'm sorry!" Caroline pulls back, alarmed, "I always forget, you know?"  
  
Elena laughs, "not really, but okay." She smiles, "come on, have a hot shower and get dry, we'll talk after."  
  
Forty five minutes later, (Caroline never rushed a bathroom experience) they're sitting in Elena's lounge drinking hot coffee and eating chocolate biscuits. Caroline's hair is cut into a flattering shape around her face, a little shorter, more layers, tinged with warmer hues. It makes her look older than her seventeen years. If anyone saw her on the street, she'd have no trouble passing as twenty-something. She talks about her time over in England, where she's spent the last two years, and before that, in Paris. Elena listen avidly about her friend's tales, and Caroline delights in telling them, always one for attention. She goes on for a good two hours, and then she stops, eyes wide.  
  
"I'm sorry," she says again, face apologetic, "I've been talking about me all this time! What's new with you? Of course, apart from the house, I'd forgotten you'd moved and almost went climbing through your bedroom window over at Jenna's." She laughs a little, "but I like this place," she looks around, "it's very you." Her eyes alight on Salem, who stares at her in discomfort over his tail, curled up on the old chair Elena picked up from the Antique shop a few months back. "I don't think your cat likes me, though."  
  
Elena smiles, "that's Salem; he knew you were here before you knocked." Caroline quirks a brow and calls to the cat, saying, 'here kitty kitty.' Salem buries his head into his tail and ignores her. Caroline huffs. Elena pats her on the knee and when she's prompted again about her life, she tells Caroline everything.  
  
It's three in the morning when they finally run out of things to say, well, not really. Elena is tired and her eyes are drooping. She asks Caroline where she's staying, and then realizes how stupid that is, and shows her to the one spare bedroom in the house. Caroline hugs her tightly before Elena leaves the room, and Elena realizes she's missed her far more than she thought.  
  
++  
  
Elena wanders down the stairs the next morning to find Caroline in the kitchen, fixing tea. Elena's eyes widen at the shaft of sunlight on her friend's bare neck, and she rushes to pull down the blind.  
  
"What are you doing?" Caroline asks, unimpressed, as she strides over and takes Elena's hands away from the chord. "Honestly." It's then that Elena catches the glint of silver on Caroline's hand. Caroline glances down at it guiltily. "I may have left a little something out last night." She takes an unneeded deep breath, "I ran into Stefan."  
  
++  
  
Elena is less affected by the news than she would have thought, it seems Caroline is mildly surprised as well. She tells Elena it took them a while, but they tracked down a witch and everything they would need to construct one of the rings, and then poof! She's walking in sunlight again.  
  
"Let me tell you though, living without sunlight for seven or something years? Not fun." She glances to her right. "Hi kitty!" Caroline coos as Salem strolls into the kitchen. He turns one green eye at her and hisses, before winding himself around Elena's legs. Caroline narrows her eyes. "You picked a right little furball there, didn't you Elena?"  
  
"Mmmm," Elena agrees as she bends down to scoop up her cat, "but he's a good little furball, aren't you Salem?"  
  
Caroline rolls her eyes.  
  
++  
  
Bonnie literally shoves Trey aside when he opens the door to reveal Caroline and Elena. He knocks into the door frame and Bonnie hurls herself at Caroline, clutching her desperately and telling her how ridiculous it was about how she _never even called!_ Caroline pries her off gently and tells her, quite firmly, that, _Bonnie, you're messing up my hair_. That only makes Bonnie fling herself back into Caroline's arms again, and hug her tighter.  
  
Trey watches with amusement from the doorway, "so, I guess this is the infamous Caroline?"  
  
Caroline smiles, and it's bordering on a smirk, "you have no idea."  
  
++  
  
News spreads like wildfire that she's back, and when she sees her mother it's awkward but sad, because as many differences they may have had; both mother and daughter missed each other more than they would care to admit. Matt's the worst, and it's like walking on eggshells when they're around each other.  
  
Two weeks later Elena does dinner, and everyone ends up getting so wasted that Trey ends up driving Jenna and Alaric home, while Bonnie sings 'I Put A Spell On You' in a ridiuclously off key manner. Jeremy collapses on her couch, half empty bottle of beer clutched loosely in his hand, and Caroline and Matt end up going at it like rabbits in her spare room.  
  
It's a productive evening, that's for sure, even if Elena ends up on her other, smaller couch, because the sounds from upstairs are enough to keep her awake until morning.  
  
++  
  
Caroline moves in with Matt, after telling him what she is, and the awkward two weeks it takes for him to look at her again.  
  
Bonnie marries Trey, and Elena is her maid of honor and their hen's night is absolutely wicked, because Caroline compels all of Mystic Falls' eligible bachelors to attend the once-small party, and convinces the bartender at the Grill that all the drinks should be free. The DJ they hired gets Bonnie up on his makeshift stage and makes her sing karaoke, until all the girls are squeezing onto the small platform belting out un-coordinated versions of 'Let's Hear It For The Boy,' and 'Love Shack.' It's funny until Jenna co-erces Elena up, and the two of them attempt to get out, 'California Girls,' and then it just becomes hilarious.  
  
Jenna and Alaric celebrate their third year anniversary of being married, and Elena feeds their ridiculously energetic dog, Buster, while they're away for the weekend.  
  
Last but not least; Elena turns twenty six.  
  
As much as she protests, they throw her a party, and Caroline looks on proudly as she drinks champagne and watches Elena get hammered. Much to Elena's surprise, Tyler Lockwood is at her party, and he dances with her more than twice. Caroline tells her that means something, most definitely, and Bonnie nods her agreement. Elena is halfway through her protestations when Tyler himself grabs her by the arm and kisses her. She laughs against his mouth because she can feel him smiling, and knows he heard them across the room with his enhanced hearing.  
  
"Girls," he says when he pulls away, "I could fart and it would mean something to you."  
  
"Yes," Caroline says dryly, "it means you're disgusting."  
  
Tyler laughs, and pulls Elena closer.  
  
++  
  
It's nothing serious, although they sleep together a few times. (The one time he stays over at Elena's, he stands on Salemn's tail by accident, and the cat yowls and rips into Tyler's bare foot with a passion.) Tyler leaves town and Elena isn't too sad to see him go. She goes about the next few weeks like normal, work and sleep and eat and then weekends! and then more work. Work isn't exactly hard, of course, because work means running the ridiculously large bookshop she used to work in when she was younger. See, three and a half years of dedicated afternoons and Sundays does get you somewhere. Of course, it's quite boring and not what she saw herself doing, but she enjoys it. She has good custom, because she's lets the elderly come in with their thermos' of soup and sit in the chairs and read, and she always keeps the stack of adult magazines filled for the young boys who wander in and ask for novels by authors they don't even know as a cover up. There's a lot of stock taking and a lot of accounting, but the guy who owns the place pays her well, and his wife always invites her around on Independence Day for dinner.  
  
She goes about her life like any other human being in Mystic Falls; casual and pleasant. It's a nice change from eight years ago. No one dies, no one goes missing, she's not constantly worried someone is trying to kill her. It's nice. Normal.  
  
Of course, it seems normal doesn't last very long in Elena Gilbert's life.  
  
++  
  
She's in her old denim jeans that she cut off at the thigh to wear as shorts, and a white tank top, kneeling in the dirt and planting some new flowers. It's Saturday morning, the day is fine, and Salem is digging worms in the fresh earth she over turns. She wipes at her face and smears dirt across her cheek, and then ties her hair back to keep from falling in her face. Salem rolls too far and ends up in her fertilizer. He lets out a discontent yowl and prances away from the stuff disgustedly. She's halfway through putting some fresh flowers in the ground when Salem perks up and looks behind her. Knowing better than to ignore her cat, Elena turns around.  
  
"Hello, Elena."  
  
She's not lying when she says her jaw drops.  
  
Damon stands just inside her gate, strolling ever closer in dark blue jeans and his leather jacket, looking exactly as he did eight years ago. Elena drops her flowers and the handful of dirt she's holding to stare at him more precisely.  
  
Damon left, eight years ago when Katherine trampled on his heart and Elena unknowingly tore it up into little shreds. She hadn't meant to repeat the word his once-lover had said, but she had, and then he'd snapped Jeremy's neck and disappeared. Stefan had never heard from him, and neither had she, and it had never crossed her mind that he might return. Ever. She swears. Honestly.  
  
"You look... dirty." He says it with a tip of his head and a half smirk, hands in his pockets as he stops a few feet from her. "Gardening, huh?" He sounds amused. "Didn't peg you as the type."  
  
She's on her feet and running for her door in seconds. Either Damon doesn't expect her to run, or he deliberately lets her go (she's going to go with the latter), but she makes it through her doorway and watches him from the safety of it. He sighs, strolling up the steps and coming to rest on her porch. He leans against the door frame and grins at her, eyes alight.  
  
"Come now, Elena," he tilts his head, "aren't you going to invite me in?"  
  
Elena sticks her nose in the air and glares at him. "No." Then she slams the door.  
  
++  
  
She does the rounds, calls Bonnie and Caroline, Jeremy and Matt; tells them all Damon's back in town. Their responses are all generally the same; negative. Very, very negative. She tells Jenna and Alaric, though what good it might do in reference to the house she isn't sure, because Damon was invited into that house a long time ago; that invite still stands. But Alaric tells her dryly that he'll handle it, and Jenna asks what the big deal is, it's just Damon. Ha, Elena thinks, _it's just Damon_.  
  
Though he's free to do whatever he pleases outside, Elena is the sole occupant of her house (save for Salem) so she's safe in regards as to inviting him in. Only she can give him permission, and she doesn't plan on doing that. He killed her brother; granted her brother had a ring that brought him back to life, but still. To do that and leave, no apologies, no attempts to make things right; that doesn't leave him in Elena's good books.  
  
However, she doesn't see him for a few days.  
  
It's a Tuesday morning at the bookshop, and Elena's just returned with a cup of coffee and a muffin from her break, to find Damon leaning casually against the main counter. She contemplates turning on her heel and leaving Fiona, her assistant manager, to deal with him. But then she catches Fiona down the other end of the store, restocking shelves, and Damon smiles at her a little too happily. She sighs and forces herself over to the counter.  
  
"What?" She asks rudely, setting her coffee down and stepping behind the desk, putting it between them.  
  
Damon raises a brow, "no hello, this morning?"  
  
She glares at him. "No."  
  
He mock sighs. "Elena, Elena, Elena."  
  
She narrows her eyes, "Damon, Damon, Damon."  
  
"You know I like it when you say my name." His lecherous grin makes her roll her eyes.  
  
"Get out," she says brusquely, "this is my job and you can't just stand there and talk to me. Neither can you waltz back into my life like we're friends and talk to me as if nothing ever happened." Her voice is heated, her hands curled into fists and her shoulders tense. "Get out."  
  
Damon pushes off from the counter. "I'll let you have this one," he chucks an infuriating smile over his shoulder as he walks away, "for now."  
  
++  
  
She should know that isn't the end of Damon, but a girl can dream, can't she? She doesn't see him for a few days, even though she keeps an eye out specifically. Then the weekend rolls around and she's out in the garden again, this time with Bonnie. She's weeding around her fence line, and Bonnie isn't too much help; she's more concerned with talking about the upcoming Founder's Day party (Elena thinks Oh God, not that again) and spelling a small swarm of bees to pollinate a patch of flowers.  
  
They break for lunch, and Elena pulls off her gloves and drops them on the porch railing, before fixing them sandwiches and iced tea. They sit around the counter in the sunny kitchen, and Bonnie continues to ask Elena what she's going to do, because she missed the Founder's party last year and it didn't go down well. Elena considers it, because she really doesn't want to go, but she gives in and tells Bonnie they'll have to go dress shopping. That, of course, will involve Caroline, and most likely Jenna. They make half-plans to turn it into a full day, maybe next Saturday? And get some lunch at that neat little Italian place that opened up a while ago? Elena finds herself looking forward to it, and then Bonnie asks if she's doing dinner this week, and Elena says yes, on Thursday.  
  
"Do you think Jeremy will come?" Bonnie asks, none too subtly. Elena just raises an eyebrow. Bonnie half smiles. "Trey's little sister is coming over to stay for a while, she's around Jeremy's age, she was at the wedding; remember?"  
  
"You're trying to hook my little brother up?" Elena asks skeptically.  
  
Bonnie shrugs, "they're around the same age, I thought it would be nice for her to hang with someone her age?"  
  
Elena smiles, "mmmmhmmm, sure."  
  
Bonnie laughs and smacks her on the arm. "Come on, we'll go finish your damn weeding."  
  
" _We_?" Elena asks incredulously, and Bonnie just throws her a charming smile and waltzes out into the garden.  
  
++  
  
Trey's little sister is the life of the evening. Her name is Cassie and she's absolutely adorable, with an infectious laugh and enigmatic hand gestures when she talks. Her New York accent has Jenna asking her to 'say something else!' and Cassie laughs and glances at Jeremy, who nurses his bottle of beer and smiles. She helps Elena in the kitchen after dinner, clears the plates and offers to help do the dishes. Elena's halfway through saying no, it's fine, when Jeremy comes in and offers to help as well. Cassie suggests that the two of them will do the dishes, Elena should go and relax, really.  
  
When Elena leaves the kitchen she spots Alaric handing Trey ten dollars with a disgruntled look on his face. Elena crosses her arms over her chest and tries to look unimpressed, except she fails and ends up laughing with Bonnie and Jenna, clutching her glass of wine to stop the liquid slopping over the edge.  
  
"She might be good for him," Jenna tells Elena on the quiet, "she's alive, vivacious."  
  
"Yeah," Elena nods, "they're kind of cute, too." She glances at her aunt, "it's the first he's offered to the dishes in years. I could really like this girl."  
  
Then Alaric comes backing out of the kitchen with a red face and a new bottle of wine, and says, "okay, so, serious sexual antics going on in the kitchen right now." Bonnie laughs again and Trey's eyes widen and he stands up. Bonnie grabs his arm and tells him to sit down and chill out.  
  
Elena winces when she hears a glass smash and Cassie giggle. "Come on guys, not on the counter!"  
  
++  
  
Saturday finds them strolling downtown, looking at dresses and jackets and trying on ridiculously large hats. Caroline is fresh faced and bubbly, which means she's fed recently. Elena isn't too sure of Caroline's diet, but no one goes missing and no one dies, so she doesn't pry. The last time she noticed, Caroline was drinking out of a blood bag; so bonus. Bonnie finds her dress in the first two hours, much to her pleasure and satisfaction. Elena tries to be relatively quick about it, but she just can't find the dress that makes her go, oh wow. Not that she wants to wow anybody, but she'd like to look half decent as the only single one in her friend group.  
  
Eventually though, she finds what she's looking for, and her choice is approved by all of her shopping party. It only takes another two hours for Jenna and finally Caroline to come across what they want, and then they're strolling down the street and across the road to the appropriately named Italiano.  
  
"This place is fan _cy_ ," says Bonnie as she looks around.  
  
The waiter, who is not Italian and from Mystic Falls High, asks for the name their reservation is under. Elena gives him 'Gilbert' and he nods. "Okay, table for five, sure." He ignores their protests of how there are only four of them, and leads them to a nice table with a white table cloth, near a window. The extra seat makes them wonder if he mucked up their reservation, but they ignore it because the menu is amazing and they can't decide what to have.  
  
"Ladies."  
  
It's obvious from the way they jump that he's done exactly what he wanted; to scare them. Damon slides into the spare seat and smiles at them beatifically.  
  
"What do you want?" Bonnie hisses, and her eyes hold a warning.  
  
He tsks at her, "lunch, of course. Why else do you think I'm here?"  
  
Elena is out of her chair and dragging him away from the table as subtly as she can. Of course, he lets her drag him, but she knows he's getting his kicks out of this. She pulls him out into the street and slaps him hard across the face. She doesn't miss the way his eyes flash.  
  
"You can't just show up and pretend everything is fine Damon. I don't know what games you're playing but get this straight, don't play them with me." She keeps her narrowed gaze on him. "I'm not seventeen anymore Damon, and I'm not scared of you. I'm over your petty attitude and I'm disgusted by your behavior. If you think you can just stroll back into my life like you didn't break Jeremy's neck and hurt all the people I care about, then you thought wrong." She steps away from him, "I want you gone Damon, and if it means I have to get Bonnie to drive you out, then I will."  
  
He looks decidedly bored, "that was a charming little speech. Now, why don't we go inside, have some lunch, and you can tell me the truth later."  
  
"You are not having lunch with us!" She's infuriated, and he grins, knowing he's riled her up enough to make her angry. "Go away!" She turns on her heel strides back into the restaurant.  
  
++  
  
Caroline spends a lot of time around at Elena's (much to Salem's disgust. 'God, Elena, does that cat of yours like _anyone?!_ ') and when she's not there, Bonnie is. Elena knows exactly what they're doing, they're playing the protectors, much like Stefan and Damon did just under a decade ago. This is what she doesn't want, she doesn't want to feel like she's a helpless child again needing to rely on everyone to keep her safe. She doesn't need them to watch over her twenty four seven.  
  
Because deep down, she knows Damon won't hurt her.  
  
It's a truth that discerns her, makes her uneasy and skittish. It makes her want to run. It's something she came to a long time ago, that as much as Damon will hurt the people around her; he won't hurt her. Not directly. She knows he's tried, with Jeremy, with everyone she's cared about.  
  
Either way. He won't hurt her.  
  
++  
  
She comes home from work one evening to find him sitting on her porch steps, entertaining Salem with a long blade of grass. She glares at her cat as if to say, 'traitor' and marches up the path and past Damon straight to her front door.  
  
"Are you going to invite me in?" He asks without turning around.  
  
Elena thinks about it for a moment. "No."  
  
++  
  
Damon Salvatore doesn't give up.  
  
Elena knows this.  
  
He makes it his goal in life to bother her at every opportunity. He shows up at her work and while she ignores him, he browses the shelves and talks to her customers, convincing them to buy books she's sure they've never heard of. She can't deny that for the next two weeks, her sales go through the roof, except... She's sure they're not buying them on their own free will. When she finally does approach Damon about it, he shrugs and strolls off to a young woman looking in the romance department, deploying his charms on her.  
  
He starts bringing her coffee on her break, and when he comes back with lunch from the bakery, Elena is surprised. He quirks a brow at her and tells her that no, it's not poisonous. So she takes a bite of the pastry he offers and walks away when he smirks at her.  
  
++  
  
She's getting ready for the Founder's Party when there's a knock on her door. She's mostly done, her hair is up and her makeup is finished, but she's walking around in her strapless bra and thong trying to find her shoes. She throws on a bathrobe and hurries down the stairs. She's certainly not expecting to see Damon on her doorstep, wearing a ridiculously expensive looking tux, complete with a rich, bordering on red, burgundy tie.  
  
He grins. "May I come in?"  
  
Elena stares at him. "What are you doing?"  
  
"I," he says grandly, "am escorting you to the Founder's Party, of course."  
  
"No," she replies, "you're really not."  
  
He turns away, "go and get dressed Elena, I'm not going anywhere so If I were you, I wouldn't argue."  
  
She slams the door on him.  
  
++  
  
She's absolutely unimpressed with the whole situation. Her dress, her beautiful, strapless, mid-thigh red dress matches Damon's tie perfectly. She can't even look at him, because he's wearing a shit-eating grin and it makes her want to smack him.  
  
He is, however, the perfect gentleman. A role he perfected a long time ago amidst the blood sucking and murdering he used to do. Her heart skips and her breathing catches when he helps her out of the car and holds out an arm for her at the entrance to the Lockwood's. She doesn't look at him, but she does take his arm. They step into the threshold of the Lockwood mansion with ease, and as they walk through the hall, Elena catches their reflections in the mirror. She can't help but notice how good they look together. Both dark haired, postures straight and her being only one or two inches shorter than him due to her heels. She even considers it, the way their names string together. Damon and Elena.  
  
Elena can feel people staring, and knows the whispers will be around the room like wild fire. Damon Salvatore is back in town, and he's with Elena Gilbert. They rotate to the bar and Damon orders his old usual of scotch, while he asks for a white for Elena, pinot gris for the softer taste. He hands it to her gallantly, and she rolls her eyes at him.  
  
"Elena."  
  
She turns at her name, sees Bonnie and Caroline staring at her with wide eyes as they take in her standing next to Damon; the way they're color co-ordinated. Damon grins. "Hello girls."  
  
"Elena," Caroline grits out, "is there something you'd like to tell us?"  
  
"Yes," Elena says dryly. "Damon showed up on my doorstep this evening wearing his tux and a tie the color of my dress, and refused to leave." She looks at him, "isn't that right, Damon?"  
  
"Quite," he says simply. "Let's dance."  
  
He pulls her onto the dance floor and twirls her elegantly, leading her into a fox trot that she isn't quite sure of. Damon doesn't seem phased, he leads her with a straight back and burning eyes, lips quirking as she tries to look everywhere but at his face.  
  
"Why can't you just give in to me, Elena?" He asks as they dance.  
  
"Because I don't trust you," she says firmly, "you killed my brother, ring or not, and left. Just like that. I know you were hurt, Stefan told me what happened with Katherine, but that makes for me being unable to trust you. Don't you remember how hard it was for me to trust you to begin with?" She stares at him with searching eyes, "don't you realise this is magnitudes bigger? It's almost been a decade, Damon, you can't expect me to just welcome you back into my life."  
  
"Well," he drawls, "I can." She gives him a flat look. "Ah, you're unimpressed I see. We'll have to work on that."  
  
Elena knows how much Damon likes dancing, and she isn't surprised when he takes her to the floor over and over again. She finds herself relaxing with two more glasses of wine, lets Damon twirl her a little more heartily. Trey steals her for a dance, and Bonnie turns down Damon's offer when he extends his hand. He looks to Caroline, and she contemplates it for a moment before allowing him to lead her onto the dance floor. Damon's grin is gigantic, and Caroline raises a brow when he dips her dramatically. She forces herself back up, reminding him that he's not playing with a human anymore.  
  
"Excuse me." Elena looks up to see Tyler Lockwood smiling, "do you mind?" He glances at Trey. Trey spins her to Tyler and she clutches onto his arm, remembers what it was like to feel him against her, bodies pressed together in the sheets. "Long time no see," he says smoothly, "you're here with a Salvatore, I believe."  
  
"Last minute plans," she says dryly. "Didn't know you were coming back for the Founder's party."  
  
Tyler half shrugs, "my mother insisted. Besides," he grins at her, "it's kind of nice to be home."  
  
Elena can't help the blush that creeps along her cheekbones.  
  
++  
  
Whatever she may have with Tyler Lockwood doesn't get any further than the dance floor, because Damon none too kindly steps in and steals Elena away with a spin. He throws a smirk over his shoulder at Tyler and rolls his eyes at Elena's indignant protestations.  
  
++  
  
Elena relents to the fact that Damon is back in Mystic Falls; and he's here to stay. At least, for a while. She also has to reluctantly admit that he's not going to stop pestering her. She finds this both disconcerting and frustrating, because she's twenty six years old and doesn't really care for a murderous vampire stalking her. She likes the one up she has on him; not having invited him in. It keeps some of the power in her corner, keeps him at bay. She isn't ready to trust yet, certainly not him, but she doesn't think twice when he comes into her work with muffins and coffee, or when he appears during her weekends to bother her in the garden.  
  
He's a little like a constant fixture in her life, now, popping in and out and attempting to charm her through out it. It doesn't work though, the charm. Elena knows his games and how much of a gentleman he can be. It's okay though, because whenever he gets a little too sly, a little too arrogant, Elena laughs and brushes him off; usually with a smart reply about how she's going to go inside and have a drink. She likes the way his face tightens over the fact he can't get inside.  
  
It goes on for a while, this little taunt and tease game between them, and eventually Elena doesn't bat an eye when Damon starts picking her up from work, alternating between taking her straight home or taking her out for a drink at the Grill.  
  
++  
  
It gets to the point, about a month later, where Damon is picking her up from work at least four times a week. They swap between drinks at the Grill, (mostly Fridays) and generally they eat at Italiano on a Tuesday, and Damon orders her dishes she's never heard of that are filled with flavor. One time they're greeted by the owner, and Damon says something in a foreign tongue, warm and lilting, and the man responds in enthusiastic kind. It's not until they're seated and drinks are being brought to them on the house, that Elena smacks Damon on the arm says, "all this time and you never told me you speak Italian?!"  
  
Damon just looks at her like she's a little slow and says, "the last name Salvatore never gave anything away?"  
  
"I know you're from Italian descent, I didn't know you could speak Italian." She rolls her eyes.  
  
He grins and says something else, something she doesn't understand, except the way he says it is warm and his eyes hold hers with a strange intensity.  
  
++  
  
"So," Caroline says one Sunday morning while she follows Elena around the Grocers. "You and Damon, huh?"  
  
Elena frowns, "Damon and I, what?" She tosses a box of cereal into the cart.  
  
Caroline rolls her head to look at her, "you're going to tell me you aren't in some kind of relationship with Damon?"  
  
Elena laughs. "You are ridiculous."  
  
Caroline, obviously affronted by this, flits off into the next aisle.  
  
A relationship with Damon? Hell, she still doesn't even trust him. Okay, so maybe the constant dinners and meetings are a sign of trust, but no. The idea itself is laughable, because Damon and relationships don't work. Maybe of course, if she was a hundred and something years older with a penchant for murder and sex, and her name was Katherine. But isn't, she doesn't, and it's not. However, even as she's strolling past the eggs, Elena can remember back to when she was seventeen and coming down the stairs for the Miss Mystic Falls pageant. She can recall the fact that Stefan _wasn't_ there, and the person who met her at the bottom of her descent was Damon, with eyes for her only and a gentle touch when her feet hit the floor.  
  
She remembers the way he kissed her, desperate and urgent and needy, and she remembers facing her mother. Isobel. _Because he's in love with you._  
  
Elena doesn't register that she's picked up a carton of eggs and dropped them straight on the ground until Caroline comes back around the corner and walks straight into the mess.  
  
"Shit, Elena!" She looks at her friend in mortification, "these shoes were from _Paris_."  
  
++  
  
Caroline wants to throw a Halloween Party. She tells them all the next time they're around for dinner at Elena's, fingers on the stems of wine glasses and laughter in the air. Dinner is almost ready, Alaric is running late, and Caroline is getting everyone more and more excited as she throws around ideas. Everyone thinks it's a splendid idea, but when Elena glances at Jeremy, there's a shadowed look on his face. She knows he isn't a Halloween celebrator, not after what happened with Vicki Donovan long ago.  
  
Bonnie interjects smoothly, "Cassie's coming back to stay around that time," she glances in Jeremy's direction, "she said she liked it here. She's looking at moving out."  
  
Jenna smiles, "that's--" They all stop at the lazy knock on the door. "That'll be Alaric," Jenna tells Elena as her niece gets up. "Give him a smack and tell him he's naughty for being late!"  
  
Elena laughs and calls back, "that's your job Aunt Jenna!" She pulls open the door, laughter on her tongue. "Finally! Come on in." She turns to face the doorway, "Alaric--" She stops speaking. He eyes widen and the realization of what she's just done hits her like a tidal wave.  
  
Damon steps over the threshold to her house, "Elena," he says coyly, "how kind of you to invite me in." He brushes past her, rubs his shoulder against her side and strolls into the dining room.  
  
Elena hurries after him, "sorry I forgot to tell you," she says in a rush, "I asked Damon to join us." She tries to calm her fluttering heart and paste on a smile, "you don't mind, do you?"  
  
Jeremy rises from his seat, eyes narrowed and fist clutching at the beer bottle in his hand. Bonnie jumps up quickly and blocks his path, "great!" She smiles brightly, "Jer and I will run down the road and get another bottle of wine, we're almost out." She grabs his arm, yanking him past them and down the hall. Jeremy trips on Salem and the cat hisses and attempts to swipe at Jeremy's leg. He misses.  
  
Jenna looks confused, "dinner's almost ready? And where the hell is Alaric?"  
  
"Let's go check on that, shall we Elena?" Damon hooks his arm in hers and pulls her towards the kitchen, shit eating grin on his face.  
  
++  
  
Elena bans Damon from her house for the next month, and although she knows she can't literally stop him, it makes her feel better. On top of that... He _doesn't_ enter her house for a month. That doesn't stop him from bothering her every other chance he gets, continuing to pick her up from work, take her out to dinner and drop her over at Caroline and Matt's place so they can discuss Halloween details.  
  
"We should really talk about this," he tells Elena before she gets out of the car, "I'm not one to do a half-job of anything."  
  
She looks at him quizzically, "what are you talking about?"  
  
He stares at her, "Halloween?" He makes a face. "Our costumes? Obviously they have to match!"  
  
She gets out of his car with a disgusted sound and flips him the finger.  
  
++  
  
They end up going as Sid and Nancy.  
  
Elena doesn't wear a blonde wig because it itches like mad and Damon does end up dancing around with his shirt open half the night. Through out the night, Elena spots some vampires, a witch or two, the occasional zombie, a banana and some army men, amongst others. They end up doing tequila shots and she downs all of hers like a pro, so that when she turns around and cheers at her win, Damon is right behind her, half spinning her and saying, 'that's my girl!' Someone puts on 'Thriller' and everyone ends up attempting to do the dance. It takes Elena about three tries before Damon gets up and starts to instruct everyone on how it's done, and 'it is not dancing if your feet stay in the same spot, _Bonnie_.'  
  
As far as Halloweens go; this one is pretty amazing.  
  
++  
  
Jenna pops around during the week to pick up some _Dish_ magazines. Elena asks her in for coffee but Jenna declines, says she has to run. She's halfway out the door when she turns around and says;  
  
"So, you and Damon?"  
  
"What about us?" Elena says carefully, crossing her arms over her chest and trying to look nonchalant.  
  
Jenna smirks. "So there is something going on?"  
  
"No!" Elena answers a little too vehemently. "I mean-- No. We're just--" and the word is out of her mouth before she registers it "--friends."  
  
"Friends?" Jenna questions. "So, Damon is your friend who picks you up from work every day, takes you out to dinner four times a week, comes to dinner with the family, is your date to pretty much every social event and--"  
  
"Yes," Elena says firmly, "we're friends."  
  
Jenna leaves with a knowing smile on her face.  
  
++  
  
However fun her times with Damon have come to be, and as much as she's grown used to his constant presence in and out of her home, Elena has to face reality again. Time has not ravaged Damon's face, he still looks effortlessly young, even after eight years and for a man who should be into his thirties. It was a risk even coming back, she knows, but she didn't think about it. She was more wrapped up in the fact that it was _Damon_ and he was back after all these years.  
  
But time waits for no one.  
  
Elena has to say goodbye again.  
  
She knows, the instant she goes upstairs to bed and finds him sitting there, like she has many times before, many years ago. He stands when she enters. They face each other for a moment, distance between them until Elena clears her throat and looks away.  
  
"You're leaving." It's a statement.  
  
"I don't want to." It's a confession.  
  
"It was coming sooner or later," she says, "it's been an... interesting year." She tries to smile.  
  
"You'll miss me," he says in an offhand manner.  
  
Elena finds herself laughing. "I will."  
  
He grins, "knew it." He takes a step forward, and the grin is gone and his eyes burn into hers, like he's searching for something. "I know you turned down Stefan." He waits. "I hope... you won't turn down me."  
  
Elena stops breathing.  
  
"I can't give you up Elena. Believe me, I tried. I stayed away for eight years because you wanted Stefan. But then I found out you never changed, I found out that you separated. I came back," and she feels her throat constricting because he's walking closer towards her, "I came back for you, Elena." He sounds pained when he says it, and Elena doesn't know what to do because his hands are cupping her face and he's imploring her with his eyes to stay with him. "I know what human life means to you. I know what you've done here, how hard you've worked for your home. I know you love your boring job, though I'm not too sure why, and I know you love your friends and family here."  
  
"Damon--"  
  
"So I'm going to be the selfish one here," his voice rises above hers, "and ask you to come with me, stay with me. For as long as our forever can last."  
  
"I can't do that." She says quickly, because that's what she's been saying for eight years. "You know I can't do that."  
  
Except Damon isn't Stefan and he's not going to back down. "I don't believe you." He searches her face and brushes his fingers across her cheeks, "I don't believe that at all."  
  
"I said no to Stefan, Damon, and I _loved_ hi--"  
  
"Tell me you don't love me," he says calmly, "tell me you never once cared about me more than a friend, ever."  
  
Her voice breaks when she says, "I can't do that, either."  
  
He's got that hungry look in his eyes, the look that says he knows he's winning, the ache and burn that comes with it. "If you turned now, Elena, you and I would be perfect for each other. We're the right age for one another. I'm not seventeen and neither are you. You wouldn't be turning as a girl, you'd be turning as a woman." He sounds almost desperate beneath his calm reasoning.  
  
"I can't just--" and even in her head she's going through the pros and cons at a million miles an hour, her mind reeling with ideas of the future and what she'll have to deal with, what she won't have to deal with. her mouth opens and closes helplessly and she steps away from his firm hold to try and think clearly. How was saying no to Stefan so easy? Yet here she is with Damon, of all the damn people in the world and he's asking her the same thing Stefan once did, and she's considering it far more than before?  
  
She looks around, trying to clear her mind and not look at the way Damon is watching her. Something brushes her leg and she jumps, glances down to see it's only Salem. She murmurs something incoherent to the cat and fixes her eyes on the mirror, taking in her own, twenty six (soon to be twenty seven) year old appearance.  
  
"Hey, kitty."  
  
She looks back at Damon, at the way he's bent down to pick up Salem, at the way the cat's begun to purr loudly.  
  
Damon catches her looking. "What?"  
  
She feels the warm wetness slide from her eye only after it's dripped off her cheek. She thinks of Jenna and Bonnie and Caroline and Matt, of her little home and her garden she's worked long and hard in. Damon puts down the cat and strides towards her, concerned. "Elena, are you--"  
  
"Yes," she says in a rush, because all the memories of this past year, of bickering and dinners and lunches and coffee, of the Founder's Party and Halloween, of _Damon_ fill her with something all the memories of the past eight years just don't. It's like she's been _alive._ Which is ironic, because technically being alive is the thing she's going to be giving up.  
  
Damon still hasn't said anything, he's still staring at her as if she hasn't spoken. "Yes," she repeats, a little more firmly. "I will come with you."  
  
The smile that breaks out on his face makes her heart do stupid things.  
  
When he bridges the gap between them and presses his lips to hers for the first time in eight and a half years, Elena knows she's made the right choice.  
  
  
~Fin.


End file.
